Tell Republicans To Stop Sabotaging The Economy

November 29, 2011

Roger Hickey

Republicans have slashed public investment and blocked the President’s American Jobs Act. With 14 million Americans officially unemployed and many millions more having given up finding jobs, you would think Republicans would support two measures they have backed in the past that would help middle-class Americans. But will they?

It’s time to demand Republicans vote to extend long-term unemployment benefits – one of the most effective ways to put money in the pockets of people who will certainly spend it, and by doing so spur employers to hire more people. And many Republicans this week are arguing against extending the payroll tax cut, which is expected to come up for a vote this week in the Senate. The payroll tax cut provides at least some cushion to the strapped middle class. But Republicans are continuing to demand more tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires—even as they seem willing to allow taxes to go up for middle-class workers..

The temporary payroll tax cut is far from a magic elixir to heal the economy. What is really needed is massive investment in infrastructure, clean energy, education and youth job initiatives. And we need millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share, with higher income taxes and financial transaction taxes. But the payroll tax and the benefits for the long-term unemployed are among the few wisps of stimulus that we have left in the wake of the nonstop obstruction of the Party of No.

Here is the petition that the Campaign for America’s Future is asking activists to send to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner:

We the undersigned urge Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to quit trying to sabotage the economy, and support the extension of the temporary payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment insurance without spending cuts that would negate the stimulative effects. This is the bare minimum Congress can do to keep the economy from sinking into a double-dip recession. Already, you have sought to sabotage the economy for political reasons, by blocking the American Jobs Act and cutting critical public investments. It is long past time to put politics aside and put jobs first.

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About Roger Hickey

Roger Hickey is Co-Director of the Campaign for America’s Future. He was also one of the founders of Health Care for America Now!, a coalition of over 1,000 national and local organizations united to achieve quality affordable health care for all. He was also one of the leaders of the successful campaign to stop the privatization of Social Security, called Americans United to Protect Social Security. Hickey was a founder and Communications Director of the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank that looks at economics from the point of view of working Americans. He was also a founder of the Public Media Center in San Francisco. A graduate of the University of Virginia, Hickey began his career in the 1960s as an organizer for the Virginia Civil Rights Committee.